Security alerts at U.S. train stations and
airports after death of Bin Laden

Passengers say man yelled ‘God is great’ in
Arabic as he rushed up the aisle

‘We were all looking at our lives flash
before our eyes’

Crew members and passengers wrestled a
28-year-old man to the cabin floor after he began pounding on the cockpit of a
plane approaching San Francisco.

The man was yelling as he brushed past a
flight attendant about 10 minutes before American Airlines Flight 1561 from
Chicago was due to land on Sunday night, police said.

Rageit Almurisi, 28, carried a Yemen passport
but his nationality is not clear, a spokesman said.

Scary moment: The suspect was yelling unintelligibly as
the American Airlines flight from Chicago was ten minutes out of San Francisco,
police said

The man has no clear or known ties to
terrorism and authorities have still not
yet established a motive, San Francisco
police Sergeant Michael Rodriguez told the San Francisco Chronicle.

Passengers told of how Almurisi was heard to shout ‘Allahu Akbar’ – or ‘God is
great’.

Passenger Angelina Marty said: ‘I kept saying to myself, “What’s he doing? Does he have
a bomb? Is he armed?”.’

Ms Marty, 35, said she and other passengers
were stunned when Almurisi walking down the aisle. She said a woman in a row
across from her who speaks Arabic translated that Almurisi said ‘God is Great’
in Arabic.

Andrew Wai, another passenger, told KGO-TV
that the wife of one of the men who took Almurisi down later said Almurisi was
yelling ‘Allahu Akbar’.

Ms Marty said: ‘There was no question in
everybody’s mind that he was going to do something. Everybody was fixated on him. You never think that
something like that would happen in your life.

Mr Wai added: ‘Flight attendants were trying to soothe different
passengers. We were all looking at our lives flash before our eyes.’

The incident is the third scare of the weekend
for U.S. air passengers and follows a number of security alerts
at train stations and airports across America following the death of Osama Bin
Laden:

A man slipped into the PATH tunnel at the
World Trade Center in New York and walked all the way to Jersey before saying he
had left a bomb in the tunnel

Police blocked off several streets in the
Bronx, New York, as the NYPD bomb squad investigated a parked SUV

The Mockingbird DART station and the
surrounding area in Dallas, Texas, were evacuated on Saturday after a police dog
alerted authorities to suspicious packages

Four people were arrested at Denver
International Airport after staff noticed someone videotaping security
lines

A picture of a little baby being patted down
by security staff at Kansas City Airport was posted on
Twitter

Later: Police said passengers helped a male attendant get
Almurisi to the ground and he was put in plastic handcuffs (file
picture)

American Airlines: The incident is the third scare of the
weekend for U.S. air passengers and follows a number of security alerts at train
stations and airports across America following the death of Bin Laden (file
picture)

It was a male flight attendant who tackled the
suspect on the American Airlines flight, and other crew members aided as the
suspect banged on the cockpit door.

Hero: Vietnam veteran Tony Harris tackled a man from
behind and hauled him to the ground as he grabbed the door handle of another
plane

‘He asked for help; a couple of passengers
joined in,’ said the spokesman. ‘They were able to get him to ground and a
flight attendant put him in plastic handcuffs.’

The two passengers who helped were believed to
be a retired Secret Service agent and a retired San Mateo police
officer.

The Boeing 737 carrying 162 people landed
safely at 9:10pm and Almurisi was taken into police custody.

He was charged with interfering with a flight
crew – a federal offence.

During the scuffle, Almurisi sustained some
bruises and was checked at a hospital before being transported to San Mateo
County Jail, the officer said.

It was the third terrifying incident for air
passengers over the weekend.

It comes after officials stepped up security
across America last week as they warned there was ‘enhanced potential’ for
violence against the U.S. following Osama Bin Laden’s death.

Elsewhere, a 60-year-old army veteran has been
hailed a hero after tackling a man who went berserk aboard a passenger jet and
tried to open the door at 35,000ft.

Vietnam vet Tony Harris leapt into action
after a flight attendant noticed the ‘burly’ man run to the main door in the
front of the Boeing 737, saying he had to get off the plane.

Mr Harris, a martial arts expert, tackled the
man from behind and hauled him to the ground as he grabbed the door handle.

Terrified travellers watched as the pair
struggled on the floor of the aircraft before Harris, with help from two other
passengers, managed to handcuff the unruly man.

On the ground: A passenger tried to open the door of a
Continental 737 from Houston to Chicago in mid air

The Continental Airlines flight from Houston
to Chicago was diverted to St. Louis where officials took the 34-year-old man,
from Burbank, Illinois, into custody. He is being questioned by police and the
FBI.

Mr Harris told ABC news that he decided to act
after he saw the man lunge into a flight attendant.

TWO OTHER SCARES IN THE AIR

A 34-year-old Illinois man went berserk aboard
Continental Airlines Boeing 737 from
Houston to Chicago and tried to open the
door at 35,000ft, but Vietnam veteran and martial arts expert tackled him from
behind.

A Delta Air Lines flight from Detroit to San
Diego was diverted to Albuquerque, New Mexico, after a flight attendant found a
note in the lavatory with the word ‘bomb’. FBI agents ushered the passengers and
crew to safety.

He said: ‘He just pushed her right over, so he
assaulted her. Well at that time I’m already in motion.

‘What I did was I just jumped on him,I wrapped
my legs around him, I put my 210 pounds of weight on his neck and he still
wouldn’t go down.’

Eventually Mr Harris managed to subdue the
passenger using a choke-hold. He then sat next to him until the plane landed in
St. Louis.

After he had got the situation under control
the other passengers gave him a round of applause and offered to buy him a
drink.

Mr Harris added: ‘I asked him, ‘What in the
hell were you doing? What were you thinking?’ He said, ‘Well, it’s Mother’s
Day’.

The incident happened at around 1pm on Sunday.
The plane was on the ground at St. Louis for just over an hour before being
cleared for take-off to continue on to Chicago.

Earlier on the same day a Delta Air Lines
flight from Detroit to San Diego was diverted to Albuquerque, New Mexico, after
a flight attendant found a note in the lavatory with the word ‘bomb’ on
it.

FBI agents rushed to the scene at Albuquerque
International Sunport airport at about 10am local time before ushering the 137
passengers and six cabin crew members away and to safety.

The pilot had decided to divert the Delta 1706
flight just before 10am after an attendant found a suspicious note on the
plane.

Passenger Tim Cole, 55, of a Hazleton,
Pennsylvania, said the pilot told passengers a note with the word ‘bomb’ on it
was found in one of the bathrooms.

‘The captain came on and said “You notice
we’re declining. We’re getting ready to divert. It’s probably a hoax, but we’ve
got to take this very seriously”,’ Cole said from Albuquerque
airport.

The passengers were then held at a warehouse
at the airport while FBI agents and dogs searched everyone’s carry-on luggage,
he said.